Overwhelming exception:

When a generalization is coupled with qualifications so restrictive that the generalization is essentially impotent.

I’m the type of man who always pays for my date’s dinner…except in the case where she want to go somewhere other than KFC.

Also known as: hasty generalization

Notes

An overwhelming exception is based on an accurate generalization, but is coupled with so many qualifications or such extreme qualifications that the generalization is rendered anemic and meaningless.

Case Study One

Some theists argue that their god is patient…except for whenever someone sins…at which point the offender is deemed worthy of eternal torture by a now wrathful god…and everyone regularly sins.

Case Study Two

Many citizens argue that their country is a peaceful country…except whenever it is provoked. The definition of “provoke” is then liberally defined to encompass any trivial offense of another country.

Case Study Three

Some argue that their god always answers prayer…unless the request is not what their god also wants. It often appears that what their god wants is oddly exactly what we would expect if there were no such god.